𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐭

xxiii. SNOWBALL

An hour before the dance, Charles danced around the livingroom with his grandma, the woman showing her tricks and telling him tips. "So, who are you dancing with? Your boyfriend, Will?" She asked and he rolled his eyes at that.

"No, grandma.." He says and then frowned a bit. "So what if you're dancing with a boy? Does it really affect them on their own dancing? They should mind their own buisness!" His grandpa said and he sighs. "Pops.." He says to him.

"I'm not dancing with a boy. God knows I get bulllied enough.." He mumbled the last part but his grandma hears it and sighs. "Kiss whoever you want, honey. Date whoever you want. It won't end the world. Only war or hate could do that." She said and he sighs, pulling her into a hug.

"Ah! Six inches at the dance, boy!" His grandpa said and he laughed, pulling back. "Oh, look at my boy!" Sarah gushed when she came down the stairs, keys in one hand. "I want to dance too!" She said and she takes over as her mother sat down. "Moooom.." Charles groaned but did well on dancing with her anyway, spinning her and twirling her, even dipping her. "Ooh, Will's a lucky boy!" Sarah said before pecking his cheek. He sighs as he pulls her up, letting her go. "Hey. What's the matter?" She asked as he crossed his arms.

"You guys talk all the time about Will and I but.. it won't ever happen, okay? Do you know the most common word used against me by bullies? Fag. Queer. Gay boy. I'm sick of it." He said then is running up the stairs. She sighed, looking at her parents who both frown.

Charles came down on time though for the Snowball, where he walked in, showing no emotion as he looked all around. He walked over, sitting with Lucas, Max and Mike who were the only ones who were there. "Hi Lucas, Maxine, Michael.." He said, all gloomy and Max gave a confused look.

"What's up, Charleston?" She asked and he sighs, getting up. "I'm gonna go get punch." He said and she rushed over, grabbing his arms. "Nope, we're gonna dance." She said before leading him over to the dance floor and he sighs, she bounced all around him, dancing in weird and funny ways.

    He starts to smile and danced with her, both of them holding their hands together. When the song stopped, they both walk over and sit down, Charles in a completely different mood. Then Will walked in and he looked over, he looked so adorable. He looked pretty in his suit. Pretty. That's the word Charles would rather use to describe Will. Not handsome or anything. Will is pretty.

    He smiled when Will saw him, Will smiled back before walking over. "Hey." He said and once all five of them were there, they just wait for Dustin and Eleven now. Well, that's if El was coming.

Charles looks over, spotting Dustin making his way over with the funkiest looking hair, he does a spin. "Holy shit, what happened to you?" Mike asked as they all stood up. "What do you mean what happened?" Dustin asked with worry as they all laughed at his appearance. "What?" Mike says in disbelief. "Dude." Lucas says.

"Your hair." Max said with furrowed eyebrows. "Is there a bird nesting in there?" Charles said, raising his hand and Dustin pushes it away. "What do you mean what's wrong with my hair? There's no bird nesting in here, asshole. Okay?" He says and Charles is taken back by being called asshole, especially by Dustin. "I worked hard." He added.

As a slow romantic song came on, they all got quiet and Will looked up at Charles who was looking around. Everyone was pairing up, Lucas turns to Max. "Max.." He says and the girl turns to him. "Hey. Um, it's nice, right? You want to, um.. You want to, like.. You know? Like, just you and me?" Lucas says, awkwardly trying to ask her to dance, nodding his head lightly at her.

"Are you trying to ask me to dance, stalker?" Max asked and Charles smirks, amused. "No. Of course not. Unless you want to." Lucas said and Max glanced at the entertained Charles, chuckling as she shakes her head. "So smooth." She says, grabbing his hand. "Come on." She tells him.

As the two went to the dance floor, Charles notices Dustin watching the two wistfully. He felt bad for him. He knew both Lucas and Dustin liked her. "Hey Zombie boy." They all look to the girl walking over. "Do you want to dance?" She asked making Charles feel like someone kicked him in the ribs, his heart felt like it was clenched in a hand.

"Um.." Will said, looking at Charles who looks back at him. "I don't.." He stammers. "I mean.." He said when Mike smacked his arm. "I mean, yeah, sure.." He said and she smiled before they walk away as well. Charles watched as Will raised his hands awkwardly to the girl's waist and she put her hands up to his shoulders, she was smiling.

He wasn't. "Wish me luck, boys. I'm going in." Dustin said then clicks tongue, winking at the two before walking away. Charles and Mike's face both scrunch up before they look at each other. They watch him make his way over to Stacy across the gym. He gets rejected, causing Charles to sigh and feel bad. "Hey!" He looks to see Jennifer.

"Still got that dance saved for me?" She asked with a small smile at Charles who smiles at her. He looks over at Mike, "um, you good, Mike?" He whispers and Mike nodded right away.

Charles slips his hand into Jennifer's before leading her to the dance floor, near Will and the girl who asked him to dance. He puts his hand to Jennifer's lower back, pulling her closer as she raised her hands to the back of his neck.

"I like this song.." Jennifer said, staring at Charles with a small smile on her face. "Cool.." Charles smiles and Jennifer starts to lean closer. "What do you like?" She asked, her smile growing slightly. They continued to dance even when the song changed to Every Breath You Take, in fact, Jennifer had pulled him closer and he didn't know how to feel. He can't exactly tell.

He would glance over at Will every so often. He smiles when he saw Eleven enter the gym before looking back at Jennifer who leaned in closer to him. "I really like this song too.." She says and he smiles. "Me too.." He said then suddenly she leaned in, kissing him. Will saw this, he watched with a hurt expression on his face. He figured Jennifer initiated the kiss as Charles pulled away, but then leaned back in, kissing Jennifer again.

Maybe things weren't all that great again.

authors note lmao sorry?? not sorry 😎